Missouri’s rally comes up short at Texas A&M

Fabyon Harris had 17 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 12 seconds left, to help Texas A&M to a 70-68 victory over No. 21 Missouri on Thursday night.

The loss dropped the Tigers (16-6, 5-4 Southeastern Conference) to 0-5 in true road games. They have won three games at neutral sites this season.

Laurence Bowers was wide open when he hit a 3-pointer to give Missouri its first lead of the game, 68-67, with 53 seconds left.

Harris turned it over on Texas A&M’s next possession, but Phil Pressey gave it right back with a turnover to set up the winning score for A&M (14-8, 4-5).

Ray Turner blocked a shot by Keion Bell with 2 seconds left to secure the win.

Alex Oriakhi led the Tigers with 15 points.

Missouri used an 11-1 run to tie it at 63-all with about 2 minutes left. Missouri’s first seven points of that run were on free throws before Pressey capped it with two short jumpers on consecutive possessions.

The teams exchanged baskets before Elston Turner made it 67-65 with a long jumper before the shot by Bowers.

Elston Turner added 15 points for A&M and Kourtney Roberson had 14.

Pressey scored 13 for Missouri and Bell had 12.

Missouri was coming off an 81-59 win over Vanderbilt, and is a perfect 13-0 at home this year. But the Tigers can’t find a way to win on the road.

They had 16 turnovers on Thursday which led to 22 points by the Aggies.

They were down by 15 points with about 14 minutes left before a 15-6 run got them within 58-52 with less than 8 minutes to play. Texas A&M had three turnovers and didn’t score for a more than a 3-minute stretch.

Harris hit a 3-pointer before Oriakhi was called for a foul and then charged with a technical after a scuffle with Harris for a rebound. Elston Turner made one of the free throws to push the lead to 62-52.

The Tigers opened the second half with a turnover by Bowers, which led to a dunk by Ray Turner. They would commit three more before they made their first basket of the second half – a 3 by Earnest Ross with about 15 1-2 minutes remaining.

They had four free throws in that stretch as A&M added 12 points, mostly off Missouri’s miscues to extend the lead to 48-34 before the 3 by Ross.

The Aggies used an 11-2 run to push the lead to 32-19 but Missouri used an 11-4 run to cut its halftime deficit to 36-30.